If you have lost money to investment fraud, expect to be approached about recovering it. Details of victims are traded between criminal groups, and second-stage fraud is one of the most reliable revenue streams in the sector.
Apply this list to anyone offering recovery. Including us.
1. They contacted you first. Unsolicited approaches about recovery — especially over WhatsApp, Telegram, or social media comments — are the single strongest indicator.
2. They guarantee recovery. Nobody can. Outcomes depend on where funds went, which services touched them, and whether any authority will act. A guarantee is a claim about facts they do not have.
3. They want your seed phrase or private keys. No investigation requires them, ever. This is theft with a consulting invoice attached.
4. They want remote access to your device. Same category.
5. Fees must be paid in cryptocurrency, gift cards, or to a personal account. Legitimate firms invoice a corporate account through reversible rails.
6. They claim to be law enforcement or a regulator, and ask for money. No agency charges victims to recover funds. None accepts crypto.
7. The fees keep growing. One more payment to release the funds, then another. This is the original fraud with new packaging.
8. You cannot verify who they are. No registered entity, no company number, no address, no named professionals with a history you can check independently.
9. They pressure you to decide now, or discourage you from telling anyone. Legitimate engagements survive you consulting a solicitor and taking a week.
The test that works
Ask for the registered legal entity, company number, and jurisdiction; the name and credentials of who will handle your case; the fee structure in writing; and an honest assessment of what is not achievable.
A legitimate firm answers all four without hesitation. Fraud deflects at least one.
Reporting it
If you have been approached, report it to your national fraud authority even if you did not pay. These reports connect cases and get warnings published.
If you did pay, report it as a separate offence, contact your bank immediately where cards or transfers were used, and preserve everything. And expect further contact — including from people offering to recover the recovery fee.
Been targeted by something like this?
Submit your case for a free assessment. If recovery is unlikely, we will say so.